Pickling apparatus



May 1, 1928.

w. J. COOK PICKLING APPARATUS Filed Sept. 22. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR i? TTOR Y l, I w. J. c oK PICKLING KPPARATQS Filease t. 2'2.192'? 2' Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR QTTORNEY PatentedMay 1, 192 8. 1

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. COOK, OI WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA.

PIQKLING APPARATUS.

Application fled September-'28, 1927. Serial No. 221,240.

' rack-support removably mounted on said rockers and means associatedwith said support whereby the extent of rocking movements of the lattermay be regulated.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in apparatus of thecharacter mentioned, means whereby the rocking movements of therack-support may be controlled for regulating the extent of lateraltravel of the rack within the pickling bath.

With these and other objects in view, the invention resides in thefeatures of construction, arrangement of parts and combinations ofelements which will hereinafter be fully described, reference being hadto the accompanyingdrawings, inwh1cl 1-- Figure 1 is atop plan new of apickling mechanism embodyin my invention;

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the same taken on line 2'2., Fig.1;

Fi re 3 is an enlarged side elevation of a mo support or spreader;

Figure 4: is an enlarged frontelevation of a fra entary portion of arocker with the sprea er mounted thereon; and- Figure 5 is an enlargedend elevation of the same.

Referring'to said drawings, 1 designates an oscillatory shaft journaledin suitable bearings 2 and occupying a position above the level of,between and in parallel relation to two companion pickling tanks 3 whichconstitute containers for the pickling flllld, or baths. Rigidly carriedby each end of the shaft 1 so as to oscillate with the latter is arocker 4 which, in the embodiment herein shown, is of skeleton-frameform and comprises opposite horizontally ahned arms 4 and a centrallylocated depending arm a. Said arm 4 has 'pivotally connected thereto anend of a pitman 5 through which oscillating movements mav be imparted tothe rocker. The alined arms 4* are preferably so located that, disposedin the normal rocker-balanced osition thereof, their upper edges throngout the major portions of their is s, lie substantially in the plane ofthe top edges of the tanks, as shown. The opposits ends of said alinedarms are upturned and each thereof is provided with an upwardly facingrecess .6 in which is removably fitted a bearing block 7 havingtherein aseat 8 for the reception of a trunnion 9 formed upon an end of the beamportion 10 of a spider-like spreader 11.

The spreaders l1 constitute'supports from which may be suspended theusual racks 12 bearing the sheets to be treated in the pickling baths ofthe tanks 3. Each of said spreaders comprises the said beam 10 which, asherein shown, is of heavy cast metal construction and which has formedthereon at each of its opposite sides a pair of horizontal outwardlydirected arms 13 adapted to receive thereon hooks or eyes 14 formed uponthe upper ends of suspension rods 15 which have their lower endsattached to opposite sides of the racks 12.

The spreader 11 is designed to be transferred by means of a travelingcrane to and from its operative position whereinits trunnions 9 seatupon the bearing blocks 7 of the rockers 4, an eye 16, or itsequivalent, for receiving the carrying hook of the crane being providedin or on the beam 10 midway between the ends of the latter.

Carried rigidly by each end of the beam 10 in spaced overhangingrelation to each trunnion 9 is a cross-arm portion 17 of a horizontallydisposed bracket 17. Mounted vertically 111 the opposite end portions ofsaid cross arm portion 17 of said bracket are pins or bolts 18 which arelongitudinally movablethrough said bracket. Each of said pins has afixed head 18 on its lower end and has a nut 19 threaded upon its upperend. A compression spring 20 is carried by each of said pins between itshead 18 and the under side of said bracket, as shown.

Also carried by each end portion of the cross arm 17" of each of thebrackets 17 is a vertically adjustable stop 21 which consists of athreaded bolt, said stops being designed for a purpose which willhereinafter be explained.-

In practice, the loose bundles or batches of sheets to be pickled aredeposited edgewise upon the racks 12, following which a spreader,carried by a traveling crane is lowered over one of the loaded racks.The racksuspension rods 15 are then attached to the arms 13 of thespreader, following which the spreader and the suspended rack aretransported to a position over one of the pickling tanks and are thenlowered to dispose the trunnions 9 on the seats 8 of the bearing blocks7 borne by the adjacent ends of the rockers 4:.

Osci'llatory movements of the rockers produced through the medium of thepitman 5 effect alternate lowering and elevating movements of the twosuspended racks whereby the sheets are alternately plunged into andpartially elevated from the acid baths of the tanks.

Obviously, in each reciprocating movement, each of the sheet-bearingracks is caused to travel in the arc of a circle and, consequently, inaddition to the vertical travel thereof, the sheets have a slightlateral travel within the bath. The resistance offered by the fluid ofthe bath to such lateral travel resolves itself into a force which tendsto separate the sheets of the pack, allowing prompt access of the fluidto the surfaces of the va'- rious sheets. It is to be noted, however,that this resistance tends to retard the lateral travel of the sheetsthrough the bath,

resulting in the maintenance of the rack and the supporting spreader insubstantially horizontal position at the lowermost limit of travel,particularl when the load borne by rack is substantia ly balanced andalso when the load borne by the inner side of the rack exceeds thatborne by the outerside. This condition is illustrated as existing inFig. 4 of the drawings wherein, with the end of the rocker 4 occupyingits lowermost limit and presenting the top surface of its upwardlyturned arm in downwardly and outwardly inclined position, the spreaderis shown as occupying its substantially horizontal position. As a meansfor overcoming the effect of the aforesaid resistance and for impartingto the rack a continued lateral movement, or side-swish, of a pronouncedcharacter, at or adjacent to such lowermost limit of travel, the innerof the compression sprin s 20 and its supporting pin 18 are provided. Asthe lowermost limit of travel is approached, said in 18 seats upon thetop face of the under ying rocker arm and is thrust upward, compressingsaid spring and imparting through the latter a yielding force which actsto rock said spreader to a position in which its arms are inclineddownwardly and outwardly, thereby imparting to the suspended rack alateral swinging movement or travel.

Substantially the same result is effected at the end of the upwardmovement of the rocker by the provision of the outer of the compressionsprings 20, such springs being compressed, as shown in broken lines inFig. 4, as the limit of upward movement is approached, so that thespreader is rocked inward slightly for imparting to the rack 21. finaloutward kick in which the sheets are moved laterally in the bath.

The stops 21 are designed to be adjusted to limit the lateral travel ofthe suspended rack to the extent that the rack-carried sheets will notbe allowed to upset. This limiting means is particularly advantageous incases where an unbalanced load is carried by the rack. For example, whena. great preponderance of load is borne by the outer side of thesuspended rack, there exists a tendency for therack to be carriedinwardl too great a distance at the lowermost limit of travel; or,following the application of force exerted by the inner'of the springs,and such is counteracted by the provision of the outer stop 21 which haspreviously been adjusted to seat upon the underlying face of the rockerat the desired limit of inward travel of the rack.

What is claimed is- 1. In a picklin apparatus, the combination with apair 0 pic ling tanks and members arranged for oscillatory movementsadjacent to the opposite ends of said tanks and having bearings in theirends, of a spreader for mounting over eachtank, said spreader havingtrunnions for seating on said bearings, members carried infixedoverhanging relation to each trunnion, and means associated witheach of the last mentioned members whereby the rocking movement of saidspreader on its bearings may be controlled.

2. In a pickling ap aratus, the combination with a pair of pie ing tanksand members arranged for oscillatory movements adacent to the oppositeends of said tanks and having bearings in their ends, of a spreader formounting over each'tank, said spreader having trunnions for seating onsaid bearings, bracket members carried by each spreader in overhangingrelation to its trun- IllOIlS, and means associated with said bracketmembers whereby the extent of rotary movement of the spreader on itsbearings may be regulated.

3. In a pickling ap aratus, the combination with a pair of picklingtanks and members arranged for oscillatory movements ad- 'acent to theopposite ends of said tanks and aving hearings in their ends, of aspreader ada teclto be removably mounted over each tan said spreaderhaving trunnions for seating upon said bearings, and means interposedbetween said spreaders and said mem- 1,ees,su

tank, said spreader having trunnions for seating upon said bearings, andresilient means interposed between said Spreaders and said members forcontrolling the rotary movements of the former.

5. In a pickling apparatus, the combination with a pair of picklingtanks and members arranged for oscillatory movements adjacent to-theopposite ends of said tanks and having bearings in their ends, of aspreader adapted to be removably mounted over each tank, .said spreaderhaving trunnions for seating upon said bearings, and resilient meansinterposed between said Spreaders and said members whereby a finalrocking movement is imparted to the spider adjacent to the limits of theoscillatory movements of the members.

6. In a pickling apparatus, the combination with a pair of picklingtanks and members arranged for oscillatory movements adja cent to theopposite ends of said tanks and having'bearings in their ends, of aspreader adapted to be removably mounted over each tank, said spreaderhaving trunnions for seating upon said bearings, brackets carried bysaid spreaders in fixed overhanging relation to the bearing-carrylngportions of said members, and compresslon springs interposed betweeneach of said, portions of themembers and the overhanging bracket.

7. In a pickling apparatus, the combina tion with a pair of picklingtanks and members arranged for oscillatorymovements ad- 'aoent to theopposite ends of said tanks and aving hearings in their ends, of aspreader adapted to be removably mounted over each tank, said spreaderhaving trunnions for seating upon said bearings, brackets carried bysaid spreaders in fixed overhanging relation to the bearing-carryingportions of said members, compression sprlngs carried bybers arrangedfor oscillatory movements ad- U jacent to the opposite ends of saidtanks and having bearings in their ends, of a spreader adapted to beremovablymounted over each tank, said spreader having trunnions forseating upon said bearings, bracketsof cross arm form carried by eachspreader in overhanging relation to the trunnions and to the adjacentfaces of its members, headed bolts carried vertically by andlongitudinally movable through the opposite ends of said bracket,compression springs interposed between the bracket and the lower headedends of said bolts, said headed ends of the bolts .being ada tedalternately to seat upon the adjacent aces of the. members adjacent tothe limits of travel of the latter.

9. In a pickling apparatus, the combination with oscillatory supports,of rack-supporting sp'readers adapted to be removably mounted upon saidsupports, each spreader having trunnions on its ends and havingcross-arms disposed in overhanging relat1on to said trunnions, anadjustable stop carried by each end portion of each cross-arm, and acompression s rin interposed between each end portion 0 sai 'cross armand an under- '7 lying portion of the adg'acent support.

In testimony whereo I afiix m signature.

WILLIAM 000K.

